Awal Khan quits BASIC Bank as managing director

Muhammad Awal Khan has resigned his position as managing director of the BASIC Bank nearly 10 months after his appointment to the beleaguered state-run company.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 27 August 2018, 03:53 PM
Updated : 27 August 2018, 03:53 PM
“I’ve resigned on personal grounds. I can’t say anything more,” he told bdnews24.com on Monday.

The government appointed him to the troubled bank for three years on Nov 1 last year when it was smarting from a loan scam and irregularities.

His resignation letter, dated Aug 14, would be presented at the board of directors’ meeting on Thursday, its Chairman Alauddin A Majid said.

Awal can continue at the bank for three more months but it all depends on the board, Majid added.

Awal worked on Sunday and Monday after the end of the Eid-ul-Azha holdiday, officials said.

He could not focus on his work from the beginning due to the huge troubles in the bank, according to sources. He had earlier expressed his desire to quit, they said.

Awal Khan earlier served at the Bangladesh Krishi Bank and became MD of the bank on Nov 14, 2016. He went on LPR in August this year.

He also served as MD of Rajahshi Krishi Unnayan Bank and DMD of the Agrani Bank.

He started his career as a banker in 1982 in Krishi Bank. He graduated in finance from Dhaka University in 1979.

After taking charge of the BASIC Bank, he had told bdnews24.com that he would restore the bank’s ‘lost pride’.

According to the Bangladesh Bank, 59.22 percent of the loans disbursed by BASIC Bank has not been paid back and now amounts to around Tk 86 billion.

Twenty-one of its 68 branches are counting losses. 

In September 2015, the Anti-Corruption Commission prosecuted 156 people - 26 staffers of BASIC Bank and 130 employees of lender and survey organisations - after audits had detected irregularities in loan disbursement.

The anti-graft watchdog is investigating alleged loan frauds worth over Tk 35 billion and misappropriation to the rune of Tk 45 billion in the bank.

The government has provided the bank with Tk 30 billion fund from national budget after the loan scam and irregularities surfaced in 2014.